Conference Sessions

Strands

Thursday, February 8

Preconference 1:00–4:30 PM

Friday, February 9

Session A 9:30–10:45 AM

Session AB 9:30 AM–12:15 PM

Session B 11:00 AM–12:15 PM

Session C 2:15–3:30 PM

Saturday, February 10

Session D 8:00–9:15 AM

Session DE 8:00–10:45 AM

Session E 9:30–10:45 AM

Session C

C1

Building Systems for School Success
Betty Jo Knick, SLC Coordinator; Chuck Schindler, Assistant Administrator; Sandra Rodriguez, Principal, San Bernardino High School, San Bernardino City USD

When you know what you want, when you want it, and what you need to get it done, your success will astound you. Organization and communication are the core of collaboration. In this session we will show you how to map a large effort such as the formulation of a single school plan, development of collaboration throughout the school and district, and successful implementation.

Implementation Level 1 & 2
Strands: Collaboration

C2

It’s Three o’Clock—Do You Know Where Your Professional Learning Community Is?
Carolyn Bainer, Consultant, Xemplar Consulting Studio

Have you ever wondered, what is a Professional Learning Community (PLC)? How might we become a PLC? What difference might it make? If these are some of your questions or if you might simply like to engage with like-minded colleagues in a dialogue on this subject related to your work, please join us.

Implementation Level 1 & 2
Strands: Collaboration, NEW!

C3

Conscious Classroom Management
Rick Smith, Author, Trainer, Education Consultant, Conscious Teaching, LLC

Why is it that good classroom management is often invisible? How can we understand, internalize, and use these invisible skills with our students? This lively, fun, and interactive session gives K–12 teachers a framework for seeing and practicing the often invisible skills of effective classroom management and organization. Participants will leave with a refreshed outlook and with ideas they can use the next day for classroom management, lesson planning, and stress reduction.

Implementation Level 1 & 2
Strands: Support for Teaching and Learning

C4

Ninth Grade Programs and Practices to Promote, Support, and Create Greater Academic Success
Lisa Knuppel, SLC Coordinator; Evonne Conlay, English & Seminar Teacher, Costa Mesa High School, Newport Mesa USD

This session will offer participants a brief overview of research and data supporting a high level of attention and allocation of educational resources to students in the ninth grade, along with a brief history of the successful programs and practices offered in the first- and second-year implementation of SLC funding at Costa Mesa High School dedicated to ninth grade students. Throughout the session, participants will collaboratively create a profile of the ninth grade student, reflect together on the dynamics of the ninth grade school year and the learning experiences it provides at their school sites, and review a variety of ninth grade programs and practices that they might choose to implement to promote, support, and create greater academic success for their freshmen.

Implementation Level 1
Strands: Support for Teaching and Learning, NEW!

C5

What Teachers Need More of: ”Time to Teach!”
Donald Hollins, Teacher/Advisor/Department Chair, Sunset High School (alternative public high school)

Time has been called the coin of learning. Yet every teacher knows the frustration of losing valuable instruction time to matters of discipline, just as every student has known the frustration of losing valuable learning time to matters of discipline. For some teachers and for some students, the amount of lost time is very great. Time to Teach is a group of strategies proven to restore that lost time to teachers and students in a way that is simple, fair, and mutually respectful. Raise scores and reduce frustration. Take specific strategies back to your classroom that will work immediately. Drop the multiple warnings and repeated requests and adopt methods that work, because they show you not only care, you care enough to be consistent.

Implementation Level 1, 2 & 3
Strands: Support for Teaching and Learning, NEW!

C6

Crossroads: A Ninth Grade Transition Course Featuring The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens
Mary Holden, Resource Teacher; David Holden, Instructional Coach; Consultants & Co-Founders, Mar Vista HS/American Alliance for Innovative Schools, Sweetwater Union HSD

At Mar Vista High School, Crossroads is an award-winning, yearlong transition course for ninth graders. Its basic purpose is to help students do better in school and provide them with direction, decision-making skills, and purpose. It could be described as an introduction to high school and beyond. The class is focused on Sean Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. During this session, you will learn about the importance of having a freshman transition course, how we designed and implemented Crossroads, and the outcome of having such a course.

Implementation Level 1
Strands: Support for Teaching and Learning

C7

Center for Creative Arts
Pete Murchison, Principal; Victoria Vincench, Teacher; Kristina Palos, Teacher, Lakewood High School, Fremont USD

Create a program that gives an underserved group of students an identity. Learn how to construct structures that support collaboration. The Center for Creative Arts at Irvington High School is a school-within-a-school that integrates the arts into core academic classes and makes art the focal point of the CCA student’s life at Irvington. The CCA works, and can serve as an example for how to structure any SLC. All audience members will receive a CD-ROM of ideas outlined in the presentation.

Implementation Level 1, 2 & 3
Strands: Support for Teaching and Learning

C8

Developing a Local Evaluation Framework for an SLC Grant
Thomas Herman, Evaluation Consultant

This presentation will demonstrate how locally initiated evaluation activities can help support the implementation and effectiveness of SLC strategies. Participants will learn how to integrate evaluation, sustainability planning, and program marketing in order to justify initiating an independent evaluation; design a cost-efficient methodology; and structure the transition into the post-grant sustainability plan. The presenter is an experienced consultant who will discuss his experience working with a large secondary district in San Diego County.

Implementation Level 1, 2 & 3
Strands: Functional Accountability

C9

Building Support for Reluctant Adopters of Change
Robin Shrode, Owner/Founder/Co-Founder, Impact Educational Consulting/American Alliance for Innovative Schools

As a former SLC project director in an urban/suburban district in Texas, Robin Shrode will share a systemic framework for supporting the early adopters, wait-and-see adopters, and reluctant adopters through the implementation of new structures and strategies for high school redesign. This session will include those successful strategies used in the initial stages of implementation of SLCs at three large comprehensive high schools as well as strategies used to sustain the momentum once the vast majority of stakeholders were on board. This SLC director created a successful framework for professional development and training based on the following assumptions: (1) the staff lacked accurate information; (2) the staff lacked compelling reasons for change; (3) staff members did not see clearly how it was to affect them personally in their work; (4) they did not understand their role in the change process; (5) they feared they lacked skills needed to make the change; (6) they mistrusted the intent of the redesign of a traditional high school.

Implementation Level 1
Strands: Identity, NEW!

C10

Turning to One Another: A Dialogue on Leading SLC Redesign
Laura Rogers, Ed.D., Pamela Goddard, Coordinators, Orange County Department of Education

This session provides a time and space for conversation on issues related to the challenges of leading the district/county in redesigning schools for SLC. SLC project directors and coordinators in attendance are asked to share expertise and experiences, both successes and challenges, with regard to various topics of implementation. The goal is to listen and to learn from one another in order to elevate the conversation concerning this work and to expand our knowledge. Attendees for this session should be project directors, SLC coordinators, and practitioner advisors.

Implementation Level 1, 2 & 3
Strands: Identity, NEW!

C11

Swing of the Pendulum—Building Longevity in Your SLC; Not Just Another Fad
Corine Sayler, Assistant Principal, Davis High School, Davis School District

This presentation addresses the age-old concern in education of reinventing the wheel for programs done years ago and recycled as the newest trend. A PowerPoint® presentation with activities covers current research on the benefits of SLCs, PLCs to build collaboration, and the structures needed within school leadership to help schools move from previous models of reform to institutionalized programs to benefit student learning and growth. Activities include some hands-on teamwork in activity groups and a view-observe-critique session. This session is best suited to teachers, counselors, and administrators who are interested in real-life experiences that can help them avoid the pitfalls of some implementation models.

Implementation Level 1, 2 & 3
Strands: Functional Accountability, NEW!

C12

Developing Young Leaders: Peer Mentoring/Advisory
Pete Oberg, SLC Coordinator, Center for Advanced Technologies, Lakewood High School

This presentation outlines the opportunities to foster relationships with the school community and to develop interpersonal skills to enhance success in a global society. Issues to be addressed are the development, implementation, and suggested curriculum of the advisory period. The presentation will include PowerPoint®, video, handouts, and question/answer time.

Implementation Level 1 & 2
Strands: Personalization, NEW!

C13

Personalization Advisories: What, When, How
Bob Daniel, Principal, and Team from Tascosa High School, Amarillo ISD

Going from zero to twenty-three hundred in seventy-five minutes is a challenge, but our team will share triumphs and tribulations in implementing a schoolwide advisory. We will use PowerPoint®, music, photographs, and anecdotes to give participants a roadmap of our journey. We have a separate focus for each of our four-day-per-week program. Monday: advising, study skills, college preparation, job interviewing skills, general life skills, and emphasis on the advisory teacher as the student’s personal advocate at school. Tuesday: reading day—articles of high interest appropriate for each grade level will be read. A prompt and discussion questions will be provided. Wednesday: activity day—fun personality inventories, school spirit contests, and our favorite academic activity, Rebel Olympics, are featured on this day. Friday: video announcements and teacher activity choice. All activities and articles are provided for teachers.

Implementation Level 1
Strands: Personalization, NEW!